1. Field
The present application relates generally to connector blocks for probes and improvements thereof. More particularly, the present application relates to inter-fitting blocks and improvements thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic components, such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) and other electrical circuits are often manufactured discretely and subsequently electrically connected. For example, a PCB may require a connection to a battery. The PCB would have a set of probes for connecting to the electrical contacts of the battery. The probes may be spring probes to reduce damage to the PCB and the battery when the pressure is applied. The probes must be arranged to connect to the appropriate contact points on the PCB. A base can hold the probes in the appropriate layout. However, the base must be custom made for any given layout. This hard tooling may take 8-10 weeks or longer for the custom base to be made. Any change to the layout of the probes or contacts requires another mold of the base to be made, which may add significant time. In addition, the base cannot be further configurable, and consequently cannot be reusable for other layouts.
Therefore, a configurable and modular base for the probes is advantageous. A customizable base would ease the time to market, and a reusable base would further reduce costs.